Really a tragedy. Mainly for the bees, but also for us and for the planet.

Not only have I lost a hive this year to insecticide poisoning, but I have seen the effects of overuse of agricultural chemicals in humans over the last 20 years. It is anecdotal, but a very personal experience. Many forum members will know that I live in southern California in the US. I used to be a doctor taking care of sick and premature babies.

One of my duties was to fly with a team of nurses and respiratory therapists to rescue very sick babies from agricultural communities. Never before in my career had I seen so many babies with severe congenital malformations. It was an amazing education for me, but an absolute tragedy for the families. I saw many cases of Edward’s syndrome (Trisomy 18) and Potter’s syndrome (absent or malformed kidneys). Without exception, the parents were employees of large scale farms. So sad. People need to be warned properly about the dangers of the chemicals that they are working with.

It is sad that developing and 3rd world countries are influenced by companies manufacturing products that are banned from being used in the developed world.
I worked for some years in Papua New Guinea and saw first hand total ignorance, or simply not caring of employees lives, practices that were long ago regarded as dangerous to humans and the environment. One example was the mixing of Round Up in water with natives using their bare hands as paddles for mixing before spraying. I’m not talking about a single guy using it on a garden plot, it was a very big company which had its own doctor employed(read owned) who knew about the poisons without any protection for the user sprays being used.
I guess this is just another example of corporate greed and environmental vandalism.